| Introduction |
| Biofuel and Bioenergy |
| Biofuel and bioenergy is a major program of the Department of Biotechnology. An end-to-end mission programme has been initiated by the Department which aims at |
- perfecting technologies for establishing bioenergy plantations for different agro-climatic zones with the involvement of local people,
- economically viable production of ethanol using different raw material and efficient, high yielding strains of microorganisms,
- biodiesel production for oil(s) and hydrocarbon using alternate feed stock especially lignocellulosic wastes and improved transesterification process
- Production of hydrogen from algae and bacteria.
|
| |
| Micromission on Jatropha |
| A Micromission has been launched by the Department of Biotechnology at 10 centers across the country for selection, characterization and production of superior quality material of Jatropha from different location. Nursery development and field demonstration are an important objective. The program includes clonal and half sib progeny trails of selected germplasm at various locations in the country. |
| |
| Achievements vis-à-vis goals/targets |
| Biodiesel Micromission |
- Under the Micromission 14centres have been supported covering 12 states. Nearly 1000 accession have been collected and characterized for oil estimation 8.02 lakhs plants have been produced, covering 270 ha.
- Operational guidelines for collection, characterization and production of quality planting material have been brought out.
|
| |
| R&D on Jatropha |
- Oil from Jatropha curcas has been extracted and characterized for its physicochemical properties. Physico chemical characterization of biodiesel as compared to conventional diesel has been completed.
- Technology developed for biodiesel production. Transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil on a pilot scale (10 kg batch) has been carried out.
- Use of Pongamia, Salvadora and Madhuca as a raw material for Biodiesel has been studied. Agro technology package for cultivation have been worked out.
- Production technology for Calotropis procera and Euphorbia antisyphilitica are also being refined for mass cultivation under farm conditions. Cost benefit ratio is being worked out based on specific criteria including biocrude, yield & other input.
|
| |
| Website on Jatropha curcas DBTJATROPHANET |
| A Website DBTJATROPHANET (www.dbtjatropha.gov.in) has been developed and launched for dissemination of information and interaction with stake holders; interaction with Micromission and other network partners of DBT programs, to function as a database for Jatropha curcas biodiversity and development of new cultivars/varieties. |
| |
| Main thrust of activities |
Dissemination of information on Jatropha curcas, its agro technologies, programs of Department of Biotechnology and developments at other institutes. The web site provides links to other government departments and institutions involved with research and development of Jatropha curcas. Users can view patents awarded or filed, selected publication lists, companies involved in Biodiesel and Jatropha curcas, news as compiled from the web as well as shared by various stake holders. There is an interactive forum for exchange of views and news.
The website is connected to a database on biodiversity of Jatropha curcas. It has passport data of accessions collected and selected for evaluation and characterization. It also has hosted descriptors developed for Jatropha curcas so that Institutions can help farmers, breeders and researchers to feed information related to passport data, characterization, evaluation, site and environmental details etc. The germplasm is evaluated for quality and quantity of oil, apart from molecular characterization.
The website also provides a forum for its Network partners under Micromission to share layout designs, site details, periodical research data, and results amongst the partner institutions and the Department of Biotechnology. The partners have web access to feed the information directly on the net and generate reports of their work as well as that of the network.
This initiative provides web access of information on Jatropha curcas, a platform for sharing research data amongst the Network partners and a database on biodiversity of Jatropha curcas. |
| |
|
| |
